Sport as a factor of national identity formation in a mass society Janez Štebe, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Presentation on theme: "Sport as a factor of national identity formation in a mass society Janez Štebe, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences"— Presentation transcript:

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Sport as a factor of national identity formation in a mass society Janez Štebe, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences E-mail:Janez.Stebe@fdv.uni-lj.si Paper presentation at

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Research Question What is a role of national pride in sport on national identity? What follows is exploratory analysis of quantitative survey data comparing European countries with a special emphasis on East / West divide.

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Data: ISSP (International Social Survey Programm)1995 and 2003 National Identity I and II High quality surveys on national random samples of adult population Special emphasis on procedural equivalence of measurements (careful translation of questionnaire, pre-tests) Data and documentation available form national data archives, e.g. Slovene Social Sciences Data Archives http://www.adp.fdv.uni-lj.si/

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National citizens identity construct: A measure of legitimacy of institutional and political order: in a long run at list some degree of identification and share of positive orientation to political system is needed for its democratic functioning Identity through feeling of attachment, trust to others, political regime support as forms of social capital that members of society share with one another. In a mass society social capital is often based on impersonal ties (mechanical solidarity), a contested terrain of symbolic construction, imagined communities

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Identity is a relational concept: How do we see ourselves through others by setting boundaries – rejecting and accepting others as members of social entities Related problems: national identity and globalisation And patriotism vs. Nationalism And xenophobia Operationalised thru indicator in ISSP95 and ISSP2003 Questionnaire:

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Two dimensions of national identity (see Hjerm, Schulman, etc.) Ascribed Ethnic or cultural identity Shared ethnicity, language, religion Exploratory factor separate country analysis shows that item a) to have been born in a [COUNTRY] consistently loads on that dimension Achieved Civic identity: Equal political rights and obligations Factor analysis shows that item f= respect [COUNTRY] political institutions and laws consistently loads that dimension Both items partialy represents separate dimensions in a comparative setting, besides a common general national identity Possess fixed meaning granting face validity Unknown reliability

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National pride is the positive affect that the public feels towards their country, resulting from their national identity (Smith&Kim 2006) Related but not identical to national identity Multidimensional Can be used as mean for comparative analysis of content of national identity components Operationalised thru indicator in ISSP95 and ISSP2003 Questionnaire:

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Exploratory factor separate country analysis shows two dimensions of pride consistently represented by the following sets of items: Cultural G) Arts and literature I) History Reliability coefficient Cronbach α ranges from 0.3 (Germany – East and Austria in 2003) to 0.7 (Russia and Slovakia in 1995) with an average in 0.5 Civic A) the way democracy works C) [COUNTRYs] economic achievements D) its social security system More stable Cronbach α - ranges from 0.7 to 0.8 Where is pride in sports?

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Pride in sport Complex of modern medialised sport – glorification of human body and short attention spans – offer good material for national feelings based on mechanical solidarity (Evans&Kelley 2002) Measured by additive index of pride in sport item (achievements in sports) and the following makes me proud item Reliability coefficient Cronbach α ranges from 0.3 (Poland 2003) to 0.7 with an average in 0.6

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Xenophobia How are various aspects of national identity and pride related to xenophobia Establishment of democratic regimes may lag behind by extreme nationalist and xenophobic feelings kin Eastern post communist Europe (Wallace 1999) Sport and xenophobia, are they reinforcing one another and interplay in national identity formation Measure of additive index with reliability α = 0.6 to 0.8 with an average in 0.7 Items:

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Conclusions Pride in sports remains an important correlate of national identity It is closer to cultural component of pride Important differences between East/ West Europe on sport and Xenophobia related Ethnic identity Further inquiry into contextual factors that shape national identity formation (changes in government, economic situation, globalisation etc.)